Hopper door unit and material spreader assembly for airplanes



Oct. 2l, 1952 w. H. ANDERSON HOPPEIR DOOR UNIT AND MATERIAL SPREADER ASSEMBLY FOR AIRPLANES Filed May 5, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ZZ/m Jndezs:

ATTORNEYS Oct. 21, 1952 w. H. ANDERSON HOPPER DOOR UNIT AND MATERIAL SPREADER ASSEMBLY FOR AIRFLANES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 5, 1947 E S l. S. ld M w N w y. v.. o o o o o i m. m Q Y N m. m w QN m s. S wN NN NN N M w (o o .o o o o m. N m. v\ W ATTORNEYS Oct. 2l, 1952 w. H. ANDERSON 2,614,733

HoPPER nooR UNIT AND MATERIAL SPREADER ASSEMBLY FOR AIRPLANES Filed May 5, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 1N VEN TOR.

wm. J-ZZzzdexson BY Patented oet. 21,1952

HOPPER Doon UNIT ANnMATERIAL SPREADER AssE PLANES MBLY Fon' AIR- william H. Anaerdson', sfekron, Calif. ApplicationMay 5,194.7,.'s1fia1Na 745,922 r j v 1 l'. This invention isidirected to, and it is an object to provide, improvements `inftljie,material vdischarge mechanism'` on airplanes for `:use for `crop seeding, dusting, etc.'

Another object of the invention is to provide a 'material' discharge mechanism, for the purpose I described, `which includes a novel hopper door unit; the latter beingfdesigned for easy, nonjamming operation, positively shutting the hopper against leakage when closed and permitting hopper when said door unit is open.

ve Claims. v(01,.; 222-512.)

` 'V'At/its lower end the v,frame 3 is xed in connection with longitudinal side beams lof upwardly opening channelfcon-v figuration, which extend laterally outwardly ink kopposite directions from said frame.

beams il are connected, at opposite ends, by Arigid A1:0 of unobstructed flow of the material out of theH d A further-.objectof the invention is to provide` e y a hopper door unit, as, in vthe'preceding para-` graphwhich .includesv a novel supporting railr .andcam arrangementoperative to permit of free v beams The .air tunnel 6 is of. a length, andis lmotion ofthe door between open andclosed posiv tions, but operative-as the door reaches closed .position-,to raise ,said door in frictional, sealing relation with; a depending, peripheral gasket atthe bottom of the hopper.

An vadditional object is to provide a novel material spreader yarranged with the` door unit in a manner to accomplish an effective andeven ,distribution of the material as fed from the hopper through the 'door unit when the latter is @perl- Y s y, AA further object of the invention is to provide a, s implerand practical hopper` door unit and materi'al spreader assembly for airplanes kwhich will bek exceedingly-effective for thev purpose vfor f .which it is designed. u

` These objects are accomplished by Vmeans of such structure and relative arrangement of parts laslwillfully appear by a perusal ofA the vfollow-- ing specication and claims. A In thedrawings:y

in lconnection'with the vbottom of an airplane fuselage. v Fig. 2 is across section on line, 2f-"2 vof Fig. 1.

, Fig. 11s a, side elevation of 'the hopper door unit and material spreader assemblyas mounted Y of mechanism not here shownv` `When the door 9 is moving between open andV `closedpositions, the guide shoes Hl'engage and y.1ig. '3 'is a longitudinal rsectional elevation of f the hopper door unit in closed position.v n

4k is a. similar View, but shows said unit partially'open.

Fig. 5 is. a planI `view of the material spreader assembly. y

Referringnow more particularly to the char-y acters of reference on thev drawings, the numeral "I indicates the bottomof the fuselage of an air'- fplane of the type used for crop seeding, dusting, or the like,` which airplane *includes a hopper 2 projecting downwardly from the fuselage from amaterial reservoir (not shown) fuselage withinv y 4said and slides easily. v

2 Jk ,v 1. hopper 2 is formed a rectangular frame 3, and on opposite sidesls'aid The side crossbeams 5. I Y y y An air tunnel is indicated generally at 6, which air tunnel is open-ended and generally rectan gular in cross section, though relatively shallow as compared to its width. Such air tunnel 6 in,- cludes side plates 'l and a bottom plate i 8 the side plates l being secured at their upper i,ends

to the ...outer i'langes of the longitudinal side positioned, so that it extends from' a point ahead o'f the hopper 2, to a point rearwardly thereof,

sovthat the hopper discharges directly into said tunnel.

A ilat rectangular door Sis disposed'for longi- ,tudinall slidingrinotion in the lairtunnel 6 adjacentthe top of the latter, and in cooperative ,tudinally spaced points. the door 9 is tted with guide shoes l2 which runen the upper edge of n the rail I0; there being longitudinal wear strips 13, on thebottom beams 4, and`v against which weargstrips yportions of the door 9 adjacent its side edges are adapted to run.

The door is actuated, between open and closed positions relative to the hopper 2, by means of a longitudinal controlrod I4 secured to said door outside the hopper*` by means of van ear l5; ksuch control rod being operative from within the pilots compartment of the airplane by means slide along the upper edge of the rail lil, and at this time the door is quite free of the hopper y As the door 9 reaches a closed position relative tothe 4hopper 2, the guidefshoes l2 engage and When this occurs, a vertical Vor raising motion is imparted tothe door 9, causing the upper sur- `face of the latter to engagein' frictional or compressing relation with a rectangular felt-gasket I1 fixed in connection withI thebottomv frame 3 IS formed in of the hopper and depending somewhat therebelow. Thus, as the door 9 comes to closed position, and with slightly further longitudinal motion, such door is raised into positive sealing engagement with the gasket I1, thus preventing any accidental leakage of material from the hopper 2. Itshould be particularly noted that the shoes I2 and cams I6 are positioned so that they vengage and function only after the door 9 is in a, closed position relative to' the hoppreciable drag, lengthwise, on the felt-gasketll by said door.

The bottom opening of the hopper 2, and the corresponding effective portion of the doorB, are relatively small in plan, so that when said. door is substantially fully open only, a reasonable amount of material may flow from the Vhopper for distribution; yet clogging is prevented for the reason that the door is out of the way of the flow.

When the door!) is.open,.material flows from the hopper .'2 into the air tunnel 6; the air blast passing rearwardly in said tunnel, forcefullydislcharging such material from said tunnel through a material spreader assembly, indicatedgenerally at I8, which comprises the following structural arrangement A pair of rearwardly. and laterally outwardly flaring discharge chutes I9 are in communication at their forward ends with the rear of the air tunnel `Ii in transversely spaced relation; said discharge chutes decreasing in height andV increasing in width toward their rear ends. Also, such chutes are dimensioned so that their cross sectional area increases from front to Vrear ends thereof. At' their rear ends said chutes are connected by a cross bar 20 suspended from the fuselage by means of transversely spaced sus-y pension links 2 I. i

The material spreader assembly also includes a narrow central longitudinal trough 22, open on top, extending from the front end of the air tunnel 6 rearwardly through the same and thence projecting between the discharge chute I9, but

terminatingshort of the rear ends of the latter.` At its upper edges the trough22 is disposed in closely adjacent and in clearance relation to the bottom of the door 9; the railv I0 being disposed within said trough.

As the sides of the trough 22 within the tunnel 6 are actually continuations of corresponding sides of the chutes I9, said trough defines, on opposite sides thereof, air passages 23 in the tunnel 6 in direct and corresponding communication withsaid chutes I9. The air tunnel 6, and the chutes I9 have a slight downward and y per 2, which means that there can beno aprearward inclination` imparted thereby by the mounting. The bottom end 24 of the trough 22 extends at a rearward and downward incline somewhat greater than the incline of the tunnel E and chutes IS, whereby said trough 22 discharges at itsrear end 25 at a slightly lower point than the rear ends 26 of the chutes I9, but ahead of the latter.

When the door 9 is open, material from the hopper 2 falls through the bottom of the latter into the air tunnel 6, a portion of said material dropping intov the trough 22, while other portions fall intor the air passages 23 and deliver to the chutes I9 by reason of the air blast.

From the rear yends 25 and '2B of the trough 22 and chutes I9, respectively, material, Asuch as crop seed, is discharged by the air blast from the airplane. l

As the three points of discharge. are in different v paths transversely of the direction of travel, an

'effective spreading or distribution is accomplished.

A pair of transverse sealing strips 2l, of felt or the like, are applied to the top, forward edges of the chutes I9, whereby when-the door is in an open position such strips seal with `the door and prevent any material lescaperrearwardly between the bottom of the same and said edges.

- fined by the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention,V theV following is claimed as new and 'useful andupon whichLetters Patent are desired:

l. A hopper door unit for a material distributing airplane which. includes a material hopper, said unit comprising longitudinal side beams secured to opposite sides of the hopper adjacent the bottom thereof, crossv beams connecting opposite' ends of the side` beams,Y a central longitudinalA rail connected between the cross beams and extending in clearance relation'under said hopper, a door disposed between the Ybottom of the vhopper and said rail adapted to slide lengthwise of the latter between open and closed positions, the side beams overhanging Vand being close to the gate, side elements depending from the side beams to guide the door,means supporting the door on the rail for such slidingmotion, means connected to the door to slide the same, a gasket on the bottom of the hopper, the door being relatively free of the gasketduring the major part of its travel, and cam meansbetween the rail and door operative to elevate the door into frictional contact with the gasket when the door is closed.

2. A hopper door unit which includes in combination with a hopper having a discharge opening in its lower end, a longitudinally disposed beam on each side of the hopper, a wear strip on the-under sideof each beam, the bottom surfaces of said Wear strips lying in a horizontal plane below'that of the lower end of the hopper, a compressible gasket disposed around the lower periphery of the hopper opening and projecting to a point below the latter,'the lower edge of the gasket lying in ahorizontalplane below that of the wear strips, a longitudinal rail disposed below the hopper opening and lying ina vertical plane substantially midway between the wear strips and in substantial parallelism with the latter, a rectangular door of a size vto close the hopper opening, longitudinally spaced shoes on the under side `of the-door and supporting the door on `the rail for slidingmovement along the rail, means to slide vthe door, the upper surface of the door normally lying in a horizontal plane below that of the lower edge of the.. gasket and wear strips for the major portion of its-travel along said rail, and a pair of longitudinally spaced vertical cams on the rail, the cams lying in .vertical planes vclosely adjacentI those of ,opposite sides -of the gasket, the shoes on thel door being sospaced asto Aride up onto -the cams after the door has moved to a vposition under. the .hopper opening, suchv latter action being effective to Vlift the door vertically into frictional engagement with the wear strips and compressive engagement with the gasket. l

3. A hopper door unit for a material distributing airplane which includes av material hopper, said unit comprising a central longitudinal rail iixed with and extending in clearance relation under the hopper, a door disposed between the bottom of the hopper and said rail adapted to slide lengthwise of the latter between open and closed positions, shoes on the door riding the rail, means connected to the door to slide the same, a compressible gasket on the bottom of the hopper, cams on the rail to engage the shoes and elevate the door into frictional contact with the gasket, and side members fixed with the rail and hopper, and overhanging the door adjacent the sides to normally allow of limited vertical and lateral tilting movement of the door'. p

WILLIAM I-I. ANDERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

Number Number UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Curran May 9, 1876 p McWhorter Apr. 6, 1886 Snyder Nov. 9, 1886 Strawson Dec. 2, 1890 Leggett O ct. 6, 1896 Pyle Sept. 18, 1900 Dornfeld Nov. 30, 1909 Allen et al July 12, 1921 Knight Feb. 22, 1927 Morse Nov. 13, 1928 Adams Aug. 8, 1933 Blue Feb. 2, 1937 Beauchamp Oct. 24, 1939 Bauer Nov. 16, 1943 Hertrich Dec. 28, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date France May 24, 1937 

